CALEDONIA, MI -- A nearly 500-foot-tall weather station and a riding lawn mower generated half of the funds raised during an online auction earlier this week for Caledonia Community Schools.

The anemometer tower and Toro riding lawn mower were the top sellers during the auction, held Tuesday, Jan. 22, raising $1,025 and $1,000, respectively, according to Biddergy.com, the auction’s website.

Those two items alone made up more than half the $4,000 raised in the auction – putting a slight dent in this year’s projected $2.3 million budget deficit.

“I’m happy with what we brought in,” Superintendent Randy Rodriguez said Wednesday. “It wasn’t a huge amount when you consider our budget, but every little bit counts and we’re trying to be fiscally responsible.”

Money from the auction will go into the district’s general fund, which will help offset the deficit. District officials have taken other steps to help alleviate some of the negative funds, including contract negotiations that have capped employees’ insurance benefits.

“Finding any opportunity where we can generate money is great, particularly with items that have been sitting in storage,” Rodriguez said.

The school district auctioned off more than 70 items on Tuesday, including a Toro walk behind mower that sold for $855 and industrial-size kitchen equipment, such as a stainless steel griddle and a four-bay food warmer, each selling for $435. Other auction items included school desks and chairs, furniture, computers, filing cabinets, air compressors and a residential-use John Deere riding lawn mower.

Rodriguez said he and Gary Delger, the district’s director of operations, will review the details of the auction before deciding to hold another one in the future.